Sixth Form
by a-slightcatchoflightning
Summary: Lofty is 16 TW:/ Nightmares Words: 735 (sorry I haven't been able to upload in a while, I didn't realise year 11 was going to be this full-on. I hope to be able to start writing and uploading on weekends and maybe Tuesdays if it works out?


**_Lofty swept his hair back a little, only for it to bounce back to where it had been before as he opened his locker with one hand, depositing his textbooks onto the top shelf and turning to look at his schedule taped to the door of his locker. Shit! He was going to be late to his English lesson, in fact he already was late, and the little boxes…they kept moving, his lessons rearranging before his eyes. Flustered, he turned, closing the door to his locker behind him and turning to face the crowds now accumulating in the corridor before him; there were so many people, how were there so many? Only moments before, he'd been alone. He broke out into a cold sweat, dread flowing through him as he tried to get his bearings – he couldn't be lost, why did he feel so lost? Where was Iain? Where was Dylan? An ear splitting ring broke out from behind him where the bell was. Hadn't he been by his locker before? Why was he out in the courtyard now, holding his textbooks again? Lofty could hear someone calling him faintly as he began to shake…_**

"Lofty, Lofty!"

Lofty opened his eyes weakly and Dylan's anxious face slowly came into view, half covered by the duvet that went halfway up the boy's face. "Lofty, it's okay, it was just a nightmare" Dylan reassured him, the original panic in his voice now replaced with sympathy and a hint of worry. Whimpering slightly, yet now aware of his surroundings, Lofty shot into a sitting up position, grabbing his alarm clock to check the time.

 _3 am_. He breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed back into the heaviness of his duvet slightly and shuffled over a bit for Dylan, who looking concerned, sat next to him on his bed. He put him arm around lofty and wasn't surprised to feel him shaking slightly. "So" he began, breaking the momentary silence "What was that?"

Lofty snuggled into Dylan's side for a proper hug, the shakes subsiding now "just a nightmare Dad" he replied "I'm okay now".

"Are you sure?" came the response, followed by another concerned look when his Lofty pulled his duvet tighter around his small frame, cocooned in dinosaur print he'd had since he was 10. He only ever did that when something had really upset him.

"P-please don't leave me alone – stay with me until I fall asleep please?" Lofty urged, tripping over himself as he rushed to get the words out fast enough, "I'm s-sorry you don't have to I'm being selfish" he stuttered, burying his face down into his duvet, covering his eyes protectively.

"No it's not selfish" Dylan said slowly, stopping for a moment to think, "would you like me to get a sleeping bag and sleep in here tonight?"

Relief washed over Lofty as he looked up nervously at Dylan. "Y-yes please?" he whispered, a hint of disbelief laced through his voice. Dylan stood immediately and returned less than a minute later, unrolling a sleeping bag beside Lofty's bed and walking across to where the boy sat huddled in his duvet, illuminated by the soft glow of his bedside lamp.

"So you'd better try to get some sleep now, it's your first day of sixth form tomorrow" Dylan offered; Lofty visibly shuddered and his insides felt as though someone was knitting them all together.

"Oh" Dylan all but whispered, "You had that dream again" – Lofty had had similar "episodes" of nightmares followed by his being almost totally unresponsive throughout the holidays between him finishing year 11 and beginning sixth form. He'd made the decision to leave Holby Secondary and start at a formal sixth form and ever since had been walking the line between regret and excited nervousness.

"Come here" Dylan said gently, pulling Lofty into a comforting hug, "it's not that bad at sixth form" he continued "I'll even bet you'll enjoy yourself, you should probably get back to sleep now if you can, I promise I'm just here" he added, ruffling his son's hair and getting into his sleeping bag beside his bed.

"Dad?" Lofty's voice drifted across the room to where Dylan lay.

"Yeah?"

"I love you"

"I love you too Ben"

Lofty fell asleep to the soft hum of Dylan's breath, thoughts of sixth form averted for the rest of the night. It was going to be okay.


End file.
